WATCH THE FILM HERE
First, the Recap:
Have you ever woken up after a serious bender the previous night and flat out wondered where you are, what you did, and/or whether, perhaps, any of it had consequences you’ll regret? For one young Philadelphia woman, Jill (Elena Camp), the horrendous morning hangover immediately becomes the least of her concerns when she finds herself lying next to a man’s body–a dead one. In the ensuing panic attack, Jill calls upon her best friend Lia (Kristin Foreman-Spence) to come over and try to help piece together the previous evening’s events in order to ascertain who Jill’s now-deceased bedmate is.
With Lia throwing in quips and pitching crazy scenarios out for consideration as to how or why Jill became a killer all while trying to keep her from going off the deep end, the situation only escalates further as a man, Mark (Will Connell), shows up looking for a missing brother, Jill’s initially oblivious roommate Sarah (Lina Carollo) arrives home early, and a very angry, confused girl, Vicky (Maggie Griffin-Smith), is suddenly present to boot. As the situation devolves into complete, madcap chaos, memories begin to re-surface, truths are exposed, and the search for the answers Jill has wanted goes well beyond her nerve-frayed tolerance.
Next, my Mind:
Co-writers/directors/producers Ian Kimble and Chris Spence, plus additional co-producer Amanda Frederick, deliver what could have been a prototypical horror film offering but instead provides a smartly comedic story with slight horror elements infused into it. While we’ve seen the whole “waking up to a dead body” shtick plenty of times before, this reviewer hasn’t quite seen it presented in a context that included such overtly off-the-wall banter and actions between the lead characters on top of the effect their conundrum has on concepts like kitchen knife location, getting blood on designer shoes, uncomfortable fact-finding decisions, getting other people involved in the whole mess, and one fantastic “wink, wink” ode to “Raiders of the Lost Ark”.
Camp’s Jill is a total riot, and the character is played to perfection as one truly confused, freaked-out, panicky, nerve-wracked woman who’s desire to just get the situation over with only gets more over-the-top as everything keeps getting more complicated instead of resolved. Camp’s performance is aided even more by the equally hilarious antics of Foreman-Spence’s Lia, whose own sense of how to handle the events only tends to cause moments of either complete exacerbation or peculiar contemplation as the two try to figure everything out, and she is a total stitch. Truthfully, Connell, Carollo, and Griffin-Smith all play wonderfully comedic, though “unfortunate”, victims of the pair’s madness, which is exactly what gives the overall tale it’s well-executed punch.
Yes, there is a copious amount of language present in the film’s 30-minute runtime, which this reviewer doesn’t like in so many modern comedies, as well as some violence/blood which is played for comedic purposes thanks to the absurdity of depicted events. Overall, “Dead Giveaway” surprises in its smartness, delivers some solid laughs thanks to its leads, and does freshen up the horror/comedy genre more than expected.
As always, this is all for your consideration and comment. Until next time, thank you for reading!
